Editing Heaven Can Wait (1943 film)

{{short description|1943 American comedy film by Ernst Lubitsch}}
{{Other uses|Heaven Can Wait (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Heaven Can Wait
| image          = Heavencwaitposter.jpg
 
| caption        = Theatrical poster
| director       = [[Ernst Lubitsch]]
| producer       = Ernst Lubitsch
| writer         = [[Samson Raphaelson]]
| based_on       = {{based on| ''Birthday''/''Születésnap''<br>1934 play|[[Ladislaus Bus-Fekete]]}}
| narrator       = Don Ameche
| starring       = {{ubl|[[Gene Tierney]]|[[Don Ameche]]|[[Charles Coburn]]}}
| music          = [[Alfred Newman (composer)|Alfred Newman]]
| cinematography = [[Edward Cronjager]]
| editing        = [[Dorothy Spencer]]
| studio         = [[20th Century-Fox]]
| distributor    = 20th Century-Fox
| released       = {{Film date|1943|08|11}}
| runtime        = 112 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $1,115,400<ref>Solomon, Aubrey (1989). ''Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, p. 241, {{ISBN|978-0-8108-4244-1}}.</ref><ref name="laird">{{cite book|last=Mank|first=Gregory William|publisher=McFarland|date=2018|title=Laird Cregar: A Hollywood Tragedy}}</ref>
| gross          = {{ubl|$2.5 million {{small|(rentals)}}<ref>Solomon, Aubrey (1989). ''Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, p. 220, {{ISBN|978-0-8108-4244-1}}.</ref> or $2.8 million (US rentals)<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/variety153-1944-01#page/n51/mode/2up "Top Grossers of the Season", ''Variety'', January 5, 1944, p 54]</ref>|$3,963,600<ref name="laird"/>}}
}}

'''''Heaven Can Wait''''' is a 1943 [[Technicolor]] American [[supernatural film|supernatural]] [[comedy film]] produced and directed by [[Ernst Lubitsch]]. The [[screenplay]] was by [[Samson Raphaelson]] based on the play ''Birthday'' by [[Ladislaus Bus-Fekete]]. The music score was by [[Alfred Newman (composer)|Alfred Newman]] and the cinematography by [[Edward Cronjager]].

The film tells the story of a man who has to prove he belongs in [[Hell]] by telling his life story. It stars [[Gene Tierney]], [[Don Ameche]], and [[Charles Coburn]]. The supporting cast includes [[Marjorie Main]], [[Laird Cregar]], [[Spring Byington]], [[Allyn Joslyn]], [[Eugene Pallette]], [[Signe Hasso]], [[Louis Calhern]], [[Tod Andrews]], and [[Clara Blandick]].

The film has no connection to the fantasy-based stage play of the same title that was adapted as the film ''[[Here Comes Mr. Jordan]]'' (itself also a Best Picture nominee), nor remakes of ''Mr. Jordan'' using the play's original title, including the 1978 film, ''[[Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)|Heaven Can Wait]]''.

==Plot==
An aged Henry Van Cleve enters the opulent reception area of "[[Hell|where innumerable people had told him so often to go]]", to be personally greeted by "[[Satan|His Excellency]]". Henry petitions to be admitted (fully aware of the kind of life he has led), but  some doubt exists as to his qualifications. To prove his worthiness (or rather unworthiness), he begins to tell the story of his dissolute life.

Born in [[Manhattan]] on October 25, 1872, Henry is the spoiled only child of stuffy, naive, wealthy parents Randolph and Bertha. His paternal grandmother is also doting and naive, although his down-to-earth grandfather Hugo Van Cleve, a self-made millionaire, understands Henry quite well. Henry grows up to be an idle young man with a taste for attractive showgirls. One day, Henry overhears a beautiful woman lying to her mother on a public telephone. Intrigued, he follows her into a [[Brentano's]] bookstore and pretends to be an employee to get to know her better. Despite learning that she is engaged to marry, he begins making advances, finally confessing he does not work there, whereupon she hastily departs.

Later, his obnoxious cousin Albert introduces the family to his fiancée, Martha, and her feuding parents, the Strables. Henry is shocked to find that his mystery woman and Martha are one and the same. It turns out that Albert was the first suitor of whom both her parents approved. Fearful of spending the rest of her life as a spinster in Kansas City, Martha agreed to marry him. Henry convinces her to elope with him instead. Though everyone except Grandpa Van Cleve is scandalized, eventually they are received back into the family.

Henry and Martha enjoy a happy marriage and become the proud parents of a boy. On the eve of their tenth anniversary, however, Martha finds out about what appears to be Henry's continuing dalliances with other women and goes back to her parents. Henry and Grandpa follow her there. Sneaking into the Strable house, Henry corrects the misunderstanding, begs her forgiveness, and talks her into "eloping" a second time, much to Grandpa's delight.

Fifteen years later, Henry meets [[chorus line|chorus girl]] Peggy Nash in her dressing room shortly before her performance. What seems to be an attempt at courtship is soon revealed as an attempt by Henry to turn her away from his son, Jack, who has been dating her. When Peggy reveals her knowledge of his true identity, Henry buys her off, instead, for $25,000 (equivalent to about ${{format price|{{inflation|US|25000|1920|r=-4}}}} in {{inflation/year|US}}).<!-- estimated this scene at 1920: 1872 + 20 years at marriage + 10 for age of son + 15 years = 1917, rounded up. Adjust if this doesn't make sense wrt the film's content, but don't be too precise --> Jack later reveals he was glad to have got rid of her so easily.

Martha passes away shortly after their 25th anniversary. Henry resumes an active social life much to the amusement of his son. On October 26, 1942, the day after his 70th birthday, Henry dies under the care of a beautiful nurse, her coming having been portended in a dream. After hearing Henry's story, His Excellency denies him entry and suggests he try the "[[Heaven|other place]]", where Martha and his grandfather are waiting for him, hinting that there may be "a small room vacant in the annex".

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Gene Tierney]] as Martha
* [[Don Ameche]] as Henry Van Cleve
* [[Charles Coburn]] as Hugo Van Cleve
* [[Marjorie Main]] as Mrs. Strable
* [[Laird Cregar]] as [[Satan|His Excellency]]
* [[Spring Byington]] as Bertha Van Cleve
* [[Allyn Joslyn]] as Albert Van Cleve
* [[Eugene Pallette]] as E.F. Strable
* [[Signe Hasso]] as Mademoiselle
* [[Louis Calhern]] as Randolph Van Cleve
* [[Helene Reynolds]] as Peggy Nash
* [[Aubrey Mather]] as James
* [[Tod Andrews]] as Jack Van Cleve (as Michael Ames)
* [[Scotty Beckett]] as Henry Van Cleve, age 9
* [[Dickie Moore (actor)|Dickie Moore]] as Henry Van Cleve, age 15
* [[Dick Jones (actor)|Dick Jones]] as Albert, age 15
* [[Clara Blandick]] as Grandmother Van Cleve
* [[Clarence Muse]] as Jasper, the Strables' butler
* [[Anita Sharp-Bolster]] as Mrs. Cooper-Cooper
* [[Florence Bates]] as Edna Craig
* [[Doris Merrick]] as Nellie Brown - Registered Night Nurse
* [[Edwin Maxwell (actor)|Edwin Maxwell]] as Doctor (uncredited)
}}

==Reception==
A contemporary review by [[Bosley Crowther]] in ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the film as "certainly one you'll want to see" and "a comedy of manners, edged with satire, in the slickest Lubitsch style" that "is poking very sly and sentimental fun at Eighteen Nineties naughtiness," adding that although the "picture has utterly no significance. Indeed, it has very little point, except to afford entertainment [...] it does [that] quite well." The review also notes that "Don Ameche and Gene Tierney are flat in the roles. Or rather, they lack the flexibility which such mannered comedy demands."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Crowther |first1=Bosley |title=THE SCREEN; ' Heaven Can Wait,' an Amusing Comedy of Manners, With Don Ameche, Gene Tierey and Charles Coburn, Opens at Roxy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/08/12/archives/the-screen-heaven-can-wait-an-amusing-comedy-of-manners-with-don.html |access-date=2023-03-14 |work=The New York Times |date=1943-08-12}}</ref> A review of the film in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' reported that it features "generous slices of comedy, skillfully handled by producer-director Ernst Lubitsch [who] has endowed it with light, amusing sophistication and heart-warming nostalgia," noting that "Charles Coburn as the fond grandfather [...] walks away with the early sequences in a terrific comedy performance."<ref>{{cite news |title=Heaven Can Wait |url=https://variety.com/1942/film/reviews/heaven-can-wait-1200414109/ |access-date=2023-03-14 |work=Variety |publisher=Variety Media, LLC |date=1942-12-31}}</ref> In ''[[The Nation (magazine)| The Nation]]'' in 1943, critic [[James Agee]] wrote, "{{nbsp}}... Ernst Lubitsch's ''Heaven Can Wait''{{nbsp}}... is not up to his best; nothing has been, for nearly twenty years. Its real matrix, for that matter, is the sort of smirking, "civilized," Central European puff paste with which the [[Theatre Guild]] used to claim to bring vitality to the American stage. But it looks like a jewel against the wood-silk and cellophane which passes for a moving picture now that Hollywood has come of age."<ref>Agee, James - ''Agee on Film Vol.1'' © 1958 by The James Agee Trust.</ref> Writing in [[Turner Classic Movies]], critic David Kalat described the film as "a representative example of its time: It's a costume drama that luxuriates in period detail" and "a character study told with inventive narrative techniques and non-chronological structure."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kalat |first1=David |title=Heaven Can Wait (1943) |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/77625/heaven-can-wait#articles-reviews?articleId=637754 |website=Turner Classic Movies |publisher=Turner Classic Movies, Inc. |access-date=2023-03-14}}</ref>

The film made a profit of $1,286,200.<ref name="laird"/>

==Awards and nominations==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
|-
| rowspan="3"| [[16th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]<ref name="Oscars1944">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1944 |title=The 16th Academy Awards (1944) Nominees and Winners |access-date=2013-10-04 |publisher=Oscars.org ([[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]) | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131014001522/http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/16th-winners.html | archive-date= 2013-10-14 | url-status=live}}</ref>
| [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Outstanding Motion Picture]]
| rowspan="2"| [[Ernst Lubitsch]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography – Color]]
| [[Edward Cronjager]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Hugo Award]]s<ref>{{cite web |title=1944 Retro-Hugo Awards Announced |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/2019/08/1944-retro-hugo-awards-announced/ |website=The Hugo Awards |access-date=30 November 2020 |date=15 August 2019}}</ref>
| [[Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation|Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form]]
| [[Samson Raphaelson]] and Ernst Lubitsch
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Photoplay#The Photoplay Magazine Medal of Honor|Photoplay Awards]]
| Best Performances of the Month (September)
| [[Gene Tierney]] and [[Don Ameche]]
| {{won}}
|}

==Preservation==
''Heaven Can Wait'' was preserved by the [[Academy Film Archive]] in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|title=Preserved Projects|url=https://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects|website=Academy Film Archive}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of films about angels]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{TCMDb title}}
* {{AFI film}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
* {{Mojo title}}
*[https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/371-heaven-can-wait-the-simple-act-of-living ''Heaven Can Wait: The Simple Act of Living''] an essay by William Paul at the [[Criterion Collection]]
* Bowman, James. [http://www.jamesbowman.net/diaryDetail.asp?hpID=485 Diary of June 29, 2011] introductory address on the film
'''Streaming audio'''
* [http://www.doctormacro.com/Radio%20Shows/Lux%20Radio%20Theater/LUX%20-%201943-10-11%20(Heaven%20Can%20Wait).mp3 ''Heaven Can Wait''] on [[Lux Radio Theater]]: October 11, 1943
* [https://archive.org/download/ScreenGuildTheater/Sgt_45-05-07_ep244_Heaven_Can_Wait.mp3 ''Heaven Can Wait''] on [[Screen Guild Theater]]: May 7, 1945
* [https://archive.org/download/Romance_339/Romance45-08-21118HeavenCanWait.mp3 ''Heaven Can Wait''] on ''Theater of Romance:'' August 21, 1945

{{Ernst Lubitsch}}
{{Samson Raphaelson}}
{{Retro Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1943 films]]
[[Category:1940s fantasy comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:American fantasy comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Alfred Newman]]
[[Category:Films about the afterlife]]
[[Category:American films based on plays]]
[[Category:Films directed by Ernst Lubitsch]]
[[Category:Films set in 1872]]
[[Category:Films set in 1881]]
[[Category:Films set in 1887]]
[[Category:Films set in 1898]]
[[Category:Films set in 1908]]
[[Category:Films set in 1923]]
[[Category:Films set in 1932]]
[[Category:Films set in 1942]]
[[Category:1943 comedy films]]
[[Category:1943 drama films]]
[[Category:Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form–winning works]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Samson Raphaelson]]
[[Category:English-language fantasy comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:English-language fantasy comedy films]]
[[Category:English-language fantasy drama films]]